


Fighting a Battle

by themrys



Series: Rhodes-Stark Family [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-04 22:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16355180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themrys/pseuds/themrys
Summary: Things get a little crazy when the Stark-Rhodes kids are attacked and a stubborn teen wants to become a superhero.





	1. Winning the War Now

**Author's Note:**

> title from i'm still here by sia 
> 
> this was gonna be a one parter but boy i got an angsty idea so let's see how this plays out
> 
> thanks for reading xx

“Harley! Help me, p-please!”

Harley flinched, digging his fingers harder into the rope holding his hands captive. He couldn’t get the knot out and his fingers were sore, some of them bleeding from the rope burn. He spared a quick glance towards Peter, who was struggling in the clutches of two older men who were trying to hold him still enough to tie his feet and hands. For a brief moment Harley was glad his brother was still so small and hyperactive, it made it harder for the men to get a good grip. His heart quickly filled with dread as one man lifted his hand in preparation to smack Peter.

“Don’t fucking hurt him!” Harley screamed, struggling harder against his bonds and spitting mad. “You bastards, don’t touch him!”

“Or what, you’re gonna do us in?” The man asked, sneering and tightening his grip on Peter. The boy whimpered and let out a sob, fat tears and snot rolling down his flushed face. Harley could see Peter’s chest heaving, knew he was having trouble breathing and needed his inhaler soon.

“He needs his inhaler otherwise you’re gonna kill him!” Harley retorted, desperately hoping they’d let Harley get it or leave the room to find it long enough for him to escape.

“Fine,” the guy holding Peter spat, “take the brat to get his brother’s inhaler. I’ll stay here.”

“Up and at ‘em,” the other man said, pulling Harley up by a forceful grip on his shoulder. Harley complied as he was dragged out into hallway, sending Peter what was hopefully an _I got this_ look. Peter continued to hiccup and cry as Harley was taken away but seemed to be calming down. Harley moves them towards the bathroom where they kept one of Peter’s inhalers in the medicine cabinet, their path lit by the flashing red emergency lights.

It was just the two of them in the penthouse when the villains attacked. Jim was off at the new Avengers compound training some newbies and Aunt Pepper had dragged Tony to some meetings he couldn’t skip. Harley was fourteen and Peter was eight now, plenty old enough to be left by themselves as long as one of their dads was still in the Tower. Plus, JARVIS was there to look after them and let their parents know if anything went wrong.

 _Dad, where are you?!_ Harley angrily thought, knowing that even though the goons had managed to knock out JARVIS the security system still would’ve sent Tony an alert.

When they reached the bathroom, Harley knew he’d have to work quickly to incapacitate his goon. He’d grab the inhaler, cause Peter really would need it soon, and _what? What are you gonna do, Harls?_ Maybe he could bash the guy’s head in the door hard enough to knock him out? It would be a start. Both boys knew some self-defense techniques courtesy of Aunt Nat and some boxing moves from Uncle Happy but his tied up hands were putting a damper on things.

They finally reached the room and Harley quickly pocketed the inhaler, using the man’s momentary release of Harley’s shoulder to grab the door and slam it as hard as he could on the guy. He yelled as it caught him in the face and slumped to the floor, but wasn’t quite out. The teenager closed his eyes for a brief second to steel himself before slamming his foot into the guy, knocking him out cold. Harley squirmed, as cool as it was to be a hero actually hurting people majorly sucked.

“Okay, okay, hands free,” Harley whispered to himself as he stepped over the man, heading for his room first. He fumbled around with some scissors until he could get the rope cut enough to pull his hands apart. If he cute himself a little in the process, it was nobody’s business but his. “Find a weapon, get Peter, find Dad.”

He swiped his potato gun from his shelf, thanking every deity he knew that it was still loaded from when he and Peter got into trouble early that week. He wished he had his phone on him still, but the men had swiped it from him after tying him up. He could only imagine the panic his dads were experiencing at the moment, if Jim even knew that anything was happening. They were always so worried about the boys getting hurt due to their Avengers business, this was probably a nightmare come true for both of them.

Harley left his room in a hurry, heading back to the living room where the other man still held Peter captive. He could hear Peter crying still, his breaths harsh but not life-threateningly so.

“Hands off my brother, asshole!” Harley yelled as he turned the corner, unleashing a potato at the man’s face with deadly accuracy. The man stumbled backwards, letting go of Peter and the young boy dashed for the comfort of his brother. He readied the gun for another blast as he ushered Peter towards the stairs. “C’mon, go, go. It’ll be alright, I promise.”

Peter shakily nodded, accepting his inhaler when Harley held it out to him and using it as his tears calmed down. Peter heard Harley let off another shot as he hurriedly moved down the stairwell.

“Harley, c’mon!” He gasped out, pausing on the steps to let his brother catch up. The teenager ran to him, handing Peter his potato gun before grabbing him by the waist and swinging him over his shoulder as he went.

“If he follows us, you gotta get him, alright?” Harley said as he sped down the stairs, heading towards their father’s lab. Peter may be hyperactive but he was scared and would probably have an asthma attack trying to run down the stairs so carrying him would have to do. He could feel Peter nod against his shoulder and patted him reassuringly on his back, speeding up.

Harley darted through the doors to the lab hallway just as he heard Peter use the final potato against their attacker. He tightened his grip on his brother and slammed the door closed behind them, wishing there was something to block their way. He raced to the lab entrance and punched in his code seeing as JARVIS wasn’t around to let them in. Once inside he discarded the potato gun and ushered Peter over to the panic room, a secure room Tony had put in for his sons just in case of a Tower attack while they were present.

“Stay here, okay?” Harley said as he placed Peter down on the couch within the room. Peter opened his mouth to protest but Harley interrupted. “I promise I’ll be okay, you’ll be okay. Everything’s fine. I just gotta keep us safe until Dad or Pops show up.”

Harley stepped out of the room and shut the door, entering the lock down code and hurrying over to his area of the lab. He had some prototypes that would be perfect for this situation, such as his own repulsor gauntlets that Tony definitely _did not_ know he was working on. He slipped them over his hands and crouched behind a lab table near the door just as the man come out of the stairwell. He had a gun in hand, firing a few shots at the lab door to bust it open.

Harley quickly fired off a blast at the man, hitting him in the chest and sending him backwards. It was fast, but not quite fast enough to keep the man from pulling the trigger one last time as Tony, clad in the Iron Man, _suit finally_ appeared in the hall.

“Oh shit,” Harley said as pain tore through his shoulder. The mask lifted on Tony’s suit, showing Harley his father’s anguished face as he raced towards his son.

A distraught “Harley!” was the last thing he heard before the world went dark.

~

Harley grumbled as his came to, feeling something warm attached to his left side. Tiny arms squeezed him tight as he tried to turn over, pain shooting through his right shoulder.

“Ease up there, bud,” He heard someone say, followed by the grumbles of whoever had a hold on him. “Your brother’s a little hurt right now. Be careful.”

The limpet holding onto him must be Peter then. Harley could hear the sniffles starting up and forced his eyes to open. His fuzzy brain protested, wanting to stay asleep and in need of painkillers but he managed it. He glanced first at Jim standing at the end of the bed, then to Peter at his side. Tears welled his Peter’s eyes and Harley lifted his arm out of Peter’s hold to wrap it around his brother.

“You promised you’d be okay!” Peter exclaimed, clinging to Harley’s side and burying his face into Harley’s neck. His next words were muffled into Harley’s hospital gown. “You said everything was gonna be _fine._ ”

“I’m fine now, aren’t I?” Harley asked. “I kept you safe.”

 “Well, we’re grateful for that kid.” Tony, who was sitting next to the bed, said. He reached a hand over to ruffle Harley’s brown curls, his smile soft yet tight. Harley’s chest twinged with guilt at causing him worry. “Next time though, please keep both of you safe.”

“Not that there will be a next time,” Jim added, sharing a look with his husband.

“Yes, no next times. You see danger, you find one of us before trying to be hero.” Tony said sternly. Harley nodded, valiantly trying to keep his eyes open as a wave of pain and sleepiness hit him. Tony stood up and easily lifted Peter from his brother’s side despite his son’s protests. “C’mon buddy we gotta let Harley rest, okay?”

Peter grumbled but acquiesced, clinging to his dad’s side when het set him on the floor.

“We’ll be back later,” Jim said as Tony began herding Peter out of the room. Harley barely managed to nod, wanting to sleep so badly. “We love you.”

“Love you!” Peter echoed, the last thing Harley heard before he drifted back to sleep with a small smile on his face.


	2. Fighting My Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so short and honestly not as angsty as i hoped but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> basically just a lil superfam dealing with the aftermath of the attack 
> 
> enjoy & thanks for reading xx

Peter’s yelling kept the whole family up the week after the attack. He’d cry out for Harley and would only calm down once his brother climbed into bed with him. If it was up to Harley, he’d just start the night out sleeping in Peter’s bed but Peter was insistent that he _wasn’t a baby_ and didn’t need him to do so.

Every morning the boys would drag themselves into the kitchen where Jim was making pancakes or Tony was diligently pouring cereal into bowls with tired, red rimmed eyes. Both parents felt awful, wishing they had known about the attack sooner and had gotten their sons to safety. Each night one of them would stand guard at Peter’s door until both boys had fallen back asleep, their hearts aching and wracked with guilt.

The eighth night, however, was different.

Tony and Jim had become light sleepers, a virtue of being a parent whose children might need them at any time of day, but that week any noise was liable to wake them up. So, it was concerning when it was past midnight and they had yet to hear Peter crying.

They both slipped out of bed, padding down the hall to Peter’s room. Tony slowly opened the door in hopes of not disturbing whoever was inside. His heart dropped when he peaked inside and didn’t see either of his children, the bed neatly made and Peter’s arc reactor night light casting the room in a blue hue. Jim peered into the room over his husband’s shoulder, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and turning around to check Harley’s room.

“Tones,” Jim’s voice was soft and quiet. Tony shut Peter’s door and moved to look into Harley’s room. His pulse relaxed, chest warming with affection as he took in the sight of Harley curled around his younger brother the best he could with his arm still in a sling. Peter was drooling into Harley’s unharmed shoulder, small fingers clenched in Harley’s pajama shirt.

Tony sighed, leaning into Jim’s side and wrapping his arms around his waist. The two fathers watched over the sleeping children, overwhelmed with affection and nostalgia for years long gone. Both boys were growing up and they’d give anything to stop it, already picturing how hard it would be to let Harley go off to college in four years.

“They’re getting too old,” Tony whispered into Jim’s shoulder. “Do you think I could invent something to stop them from aging?”

“Only if you can keep us from getting any older too.”

In the room Harley grumbled, shifting slightly and one eye squinting open to see what was happening. He peered at his dads with a crusty eye, half heartedly waving at them with the arm wrapped around Peter.

“Ev’rything ‘kay?” He slurred, his eye already drooping closed.

“It’s okay, go back to sleep,” Jim said. Harley closed his eye and pulled Peter closer, quickly falling asleep. Jim pressed back into Tony’s hold and Tony pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “We’re all gonna be okay.”

~

“So, Harley,” Tony started. Harley groaned, he knew what was coming. They were both in the lab working on different projects but enjoying each other’s company. Harley’s arm was still in a sling, his collarbone broken from where the bullet hit his shoulder, so the work was slow going. “Want to tell me why you were making your own gauntlets?”

“Not really,” he finally grumbled, after a few tense minutes of silence in which Harley avoided the question by continuing to fiddle with machine parts.

“Harley.” Tony’s voice was stern and Harley just knew if he looked up he’d be on the end of the infamous Dad stare. He could never tell if Tony’s or Jim’s was worse, they were both his dads but one had the power of a military rank backing him. Still, disappointing Tony cut right to the soft spot of Harley’s soul that looked up to the man. “Harley Keener-Stark-Rhodes, talk to me.”

 _Wow. All three last names, you’re really in for it now, Harls._ Harley could hear Peter’s voice in his head, telling him to run for it. Getting all of the last names was worse than getting your middle name.

“Imayhavebeenworkingonasuit,” Harley says in a rushed breath. He doesn’t look up from the lab table, continuing to fiddle with anything within reach. He foolishly hopes Tony will drop the conversation on account of not having understood his son. He thinks about sending a heads up to Peter that Harley is about to be Dead with a Capital D, but knows reaching for his phone will make things even worse.

Harley finally gets the courage to look up and immediately regrets it. Yep, there are disappointed brown eyes meeting his own. Tony’s arms are crossed over his grease stained band t-shirt and Harley can see the muscle ticking in his clenched jaw.

“And _why_ were you building a suit?” His dad asks. Harley folds in on himself the best he can with his shoulder twinging in pain.

“B-because of things like this!” He says, gesturing to his shoulder. His eyes well up with tears, picturing Peter’s terrified face drenched in tears. Harley kept his brother safe this time, but what if it happens again? “You and Pops are _heroes!_ And I’m sorry if some days that just feels like a lot to live up to, okay? I just wanted to be able to protect my family too.”

“Harley, just because I’m Iron Man doesn’t mean you have to be,” Tony says, moving around the lab table to pull Harley into a hug and rub a comforting hand up and down his back. “I’m your dad, I’m supposed to be the one protecting you so you can do whatever the hell you want.”

Harley looks at Tony, arching an eyebrow as if to say ’ _whatever_ I want?’.

“Whatever you want within reason,” Tony amends. “Rhodey would kill me otherwise.”


	3. BONUS

**\+ 7 YEARS LATER**

“Why do all of our children want to be like _me?!_ ” Tony moans, flopping face first onto the couch next to Rhodey. Rhodey ignores the antics of his husband in favor of continuing to finish paperwork on his Stark tablet. Tony huffs and pushes himself up, not wanting to be ignored. “My love, the light of my life. Why do our children want to be like me? We’re _both_ superheroes! Why don’t they ever wanna be War Machine, huh? Why don’t they wanna join the Air Force or something? Did we not raise them to love this country?”

“Really?” Rhodey asks. He sets the tablet down to finally face Tony, one stupid eyebrow raised and face full of incredulity. Tony almost can’t stop himself from just abandoning this conversation to kiss him. “You’d rather they be deployed overseas for months at a time than moonlight as city vigilantes?”

“Ugh,” Tony flops back down. “I suppose not.”

“Thought so. At least this way we can keep an eye on them both and scold them when they don’t listen to us.”

“The point still stands: why do they want to be like me and not you, huh?” Tony pokes Rhodey in the ribs like an obnoxious child.

“Tones, why are you upset they want to be like you? What’s the real issue here?” Rhodey nudged Tony until he sat up, turning in his seat so they were facing each other. He took Tony’s face between his hands when he tried to look away. “You’re a wonderful father and a good man. I’d be proud if Peter or Harley ended up just like you.”

Tony didn’t answer, closing his eyes and leaning into the touch. Rhodey pressed a kiss to Tony’s forehead, pulling his husband in to a hug.

“I love you,” Tony’s words were muffled into Rhodey’s shoulder. “Doesn’t it bother you though?”

“No, not at all. I knew from the start that you’d be their favorite dad,” Rhodey laughed. “Besides, they come to me for things other than superhero advice.”

“What?!” Tony squawked, pulling out of the hug. “Spill! What do you know about them that I don’t?”

“Well, let’s just say I give better relationship advice than you ever could.”

“Hey!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all know what's coming sometime maybe soon depending on when i decide to write that lol 
> 
> thanks for reading/commenting/giving kudos i appreciate all the support <3 
> 
> feel free to leave me prompts/let me know what else you wanna see in this series!


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